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Just to the northeast of Yosemite National Park, in California, is Mono Lake. 

Although it seems like a dead lake, Mono Lake does support some life. Not very much but it has a very delicate living system. Tiny algae is food for the brine flies and shrimp which are eaten by birds. Bottom-dwelling bacteria decompose dead plants and animals into detritus that fertilizes the algae so the simple cycle continues. 

The white that you see is actually called Tufa. Tufa forms underwater where freshwater calcium-bearing springs come up through the bottom of Mono Lake. Calcium chemically combines with carbonate-rich lake water to form calcium carbonate, or tufa. This solid material settles out, forming towers with the spring water pushing up inside them. The towers cease to grow as they are exposed to the air by the declining lake level.